Police personnel at the residence of criminal Vikas Dubey, after an encounter in Bikaru village where 8 police personnel lost their lives (File/PTI)

THE family of Prabhat Mishra alias Kartikey, killed in an alleged encounter as the Uttar Pradesh Police hunted for gangster Vikas Dubey and his aides, has claimed that he was a minor.

They said Kartikey had cleared his Class 12 Uttar Pradesh school board exams on June 29, 10 days before he was killed. His Class 10 marksheet and an Aadhaar card record his date of birth as May 27, 2004, making him 16 years of age.

Police had launched a hunt for Dubey after his men killed eight of its personnel in a shootout at Kanpur’s Bikru village on July 3, during a failed raid to arrest him. Kartikey’s family lives next to Dubey’s home in Bikru.

Inspector General, Kanpur range, Mohit Agarwal said he had no information on Kartikey’s age, and reiterated that the Haryana Police had recovered pistols used in the Bikru shootout from him at the time of his arrest on July 8. The police in Faridabad, from where he was held, had said Kartikey was 19. “Dubey used to have youths in his gang. He would influence them just as terrorists do,” said Agarwal.

According to the UP Police, they were bringing Kartikey from Faridabad to Kanpur on July 9, when he snatched the pistol of a sub-inspector and tried to flee. “The encounter took place in the Panki area of Kanpur. The police vehicle had a flat tyre. Taking advantage, Kartikey tried to run. He opened fire on the policemen, injuring two constables. The policemen fired at him in self-defence.”

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Speaking about the Bikru shootout, Kartikey’s mother Geeta Mishra said they had woken past 1 am on July 3 to the sound of firing. “My husband was not in the village at the time, he had gone to a relative’s home. There was only my mother-in-law (Rajkali, 72), Kartikey and me. After the firing stopped, I stepped out of the house and saw all the men fleeing fearing police action. I asked Kartikey to leave too for a few days.”

She said Kartikey had his cellphone with him. “Later that night the police came and took away my cellphone. I didn’t remember Kartikey’s phone number and so could not contact him after he left.”

Geeta said she came to know of Kartikey’s arrest only on July 9, and did not know the two men the police said were with him at the time. “We don’t have relatives in Faridabad. Hours later, I heard from mediapersons that the police had killed my son. It is murder.”

Geeta said the police had told her that its men had been fired upon on July 3 from her terrace. “I don’t know the truth because I did not allow anyone to enter my house. I think the police killed my son because the assailants used my terrace and now I fear for my husband’s life.”

She added that Kartikey’s father, Rajendra Kumar Mishra, 49, who works in a private firm in Kanpur, hadn’t been home since the shootout due to police fear.

Showing Kartikey’s Class 10 marksheet with more than 78% marks, the family said he was a good student. In the Class 12 exams he cleared just before he died, he got 61% marks, they said. “Kartikey was yet to collect his marksheet from his school (Shri Bajarang Higher Secondary School)… He wanted to join the Air Force. The child with such good marks would never take part in criminal activities. The police are falsely blaming him,” Geeta said.

Kartikey’s elder sister Himanshi, who is a graduate and studying for a Basic Training Certificate, said the police were trying to “frame” Kumar too. “We have come to know that Shashi Kant (a Bikru resident whose arrest for the July 3 shootout was announced by the police on Tuesday), has said my father was also involved.” Himanshi was at a relative’s house at the time of the July 3 incident.

Additional Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said Shashi Kant had named “Rajendra Mishra”, apart from others.

Geeta said she had removed all government documents, including educational qualifications of Kartikey and Himanshi, from their house fearing the police might destroy them in a search.

According to the UP Police, five days after the Bikru shootout, the Faridabad police had arrested Kartikey along with two other alleged Dubey aides, Shrawan and his son Ankur, from Shivrajpur in Kanpur. The police said they had got information that Dubey’s aides were hiding with weapons at a house in New Indira Nagar, and that the three were held after an exchange of fire.

The Faridabad police said Kartikey had confessed that he had fled with Dubey after grabbing two pistols and cartridges belonging to policemen. Shrawan and Ankur are in judicial custody.

The UP Police has named 21 people in the Bikru shootout case, along with more than 60 unnamed. Six, including Dubey and Kartikey, have been killed in alleged encounters. Eleven remain absconding.